Running backs are starting to become a rare commodity in the first round of the NFL Draft. The short careers at the position — along with the big second contracts — have scared teams away from using a premium pick on a running back.
Teams are finding value on running backs later in the draft, players they don’t have to consider giving a fifth-year option. Some of those backs are more productive than the top backs selected in the first round, and some teams are even finding stars on Day 3 of the draft (see Aaron Jones, James Robinson, and Austin Ekeler). The second round of the draft is when teams tend to invest in running backs in this day and age, as five of the top-10 rushing leaders in 2021 were drafted in the second round.
No running backs were taken in the first round in the 2013 and 2014 drafts, a far cry from the four running backs taken in the first round in 2000 and the five taken in 1990 (when…
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